Town square, San Pedro del Rio, Venezuela

A sleepy town, barely on the map near San Cristobal, Venezuela. We were looking for an alternate route to get to the border of Colombia and bumped along the cobblestone streets into the town square of San Pedro del Rio. Oh my God. The tree. It spanned the entire park. A living umbrella shielding us from the relentless sun. This is a tree you could spend a life under.

We were told this was a weekend getaway for the residents of San Cristobal, with restaurants and shops. But at midweek, we had the town to ourselves. The shops were closed and we finally found a tiny restaurant open.

The road from here winds up into the mountains before steeply descending to Agua Caliente. Colombia is a stone’s throw away, but you have to continue to San Antonio del Tachira to cross the border into Colombia.

Rainy Bus Ride, Colombia

Thundershowers forced us to take refuge under the canopy of a roadside restaurant between Necocli and Arboletes along the Caribbean coast in Colombia. Hot, humid and wet. A bus pulled up and I took this photo as passengers boarded.